A Mutiny?

I've been out all day, so most of the following contributions have only just been published and I'll let them speak for themselves:-

I simply do not understand how an SPO is justified in allocating work to staff (interesting distinctions made between managers and “my team” ie the staff, that seems to me to say so much more than a simple pay grade above a PO), knowing that those staff are already holding a full case load and therefore have NO CAPACITY for allocation of additional work. That in itself is an admission of inflicting harm on those very staff if you know people in ‘your team’ are at that point not coping and are stressed. Surely that is a line of accountability here that leads directly to ALL in the management structure?

Wringing of hands does not remove or negate this accountability. Saying we know this is wrong but have no choice but to continue harming staff is what seems to be some sort of admission here and for which there can be no absolution because it causes you worry but yet you keep repeating the behaviour. That said, what about those we are allocated, where is the procedural justice, care and support for them? Knowing this is wrong but ‘having’ to keep doing it, is no justification. If you keep shovelling shit down it eventually lands on the most vulnerable and there should be no doubt that this is precisely what is openly being done. So victims, offenders and justice is being systemically failed. PO

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Toxic management meetings combining handwringing about staff struggling and leaving, then in come the performance figures and get your team to do this. I've heard PDU heads wring their hands about workloads and the consequences of them and then bow down to head of ops who simply doesn't give a hoot. The RPD comes in with fluff about proper probation practice but gaslights people about workloads and fails to take any responsibility by being will ignorant of what's going on, meaning all the pressure falls once again to PO/PSO and SPOs, when it should be going up.

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I’ve never spoken to a single PO / PSO that felt their PDU heads were fit for purpose. The reality is they aren’t. They have the power to do something about this mess but they don’t. They ‘wring their hands’ and ‘bow their heads’ and knowingly allow the harm to staff to continue. They have far more power than SPOs but they just toddle along like things will magically rectify themselves, without them actually doing anything to make that happen. Then they wonder why they have a mutiny on their hands, where staff have had enough and are saying no. I have no sympathy for them. They contribute to the daily nightmare that never ends. 

There will be many more catastrophic SFOs and practitioners AND SPOs will take the fall for them every single time. Careers and reputations destroyed, emotional and mental health in shreds, and the PDU heads and RPDs will go unscathed every single time. Cases are people but so are staff and the Service is nothing without its practitioners. Something the higher-ups seem to have completely forgotten. They will remember fast enough when they suddenly have hundreds of cases to reallocate and literally nobody to give them to, because most of their staff are off sick, overwhelmed and unable to function anymore because of the stress they have wilfully dumped at our doors with no thought for our well-being. 

Duty of care starts at the top. Practice is broken because staff are broken. Hire more agency staff. LISTEN TO STAFF. Understand we are only human and we AREN’T expendable unless they want a Service consisting of trainees and newly qualified officers because experienced staff have either left or are too unwell to work. Stop breaking staff. There are no excuses, justifications or reasons to do this to staff. There will be no staff retention unless they STOP BREAKING US.

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Other services are protecting their work force better than Probation. Some police areas have stopped taking IOM referrals due to lack of capacity. Many children's services have protected caseloads. They know that if they don't protect staff they lose them. So why do we have no control and why are managers not doing more to reduce our caseloads and have a genuine safe working measurement? PSS should go for starters and we should not have to deal with the shambles of accommodation. The task should go to another specialist service. It taking up too much valuable time and contributing to burn out. 

We need more Probation officers, ones with experience so why are PO's being shifted over to work on quality control? It ridiculous and these jobs need to go, get the PO's back doing offender manage. I read the article from the PO and it's spot on. Sounds like someone has taken my brain contents and splattered it over the blog. It's nice to know I'm not alone but all the more shocking to know how many of us are genuinely suffering and being abused so badly at work.